INTEL CORP. (MOUNTAIN VIEW PLANT)MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

Cleanup Activities

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Background

The former Intel Corp. (Mountain View Plant) site is located at 365 East Middlefield Road in Mountain View, California. A facility manufactured semiconductors at the 2-acre property from 1968 until 1981. The site is one of three Superfund or National Priorities List (NPL) sites that are being cleaned up simultaneously. The other two Superfund sites are the Fairchild Semiconductor Corp. (Mountain View Plant) site and the Raytheon site. The three sites are located in the Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman (MEW) Study Area. Site investigations at several of these facilities during 1981 and 1982 revealed significant soil and groundwater contamination by toxic chemicals, primarily volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Following construction of the site’s long-term remedy, operation and maintenance activities and monitoring are ongoing.

What Has Been Done to Clean Up the Site?

What Is the Current Site Status?

Under EPA’s direction and oversight, Intel has implemented the soil and groundwater cleanup program at the former Intel facility. The soil cleanup has been completed at the site and all the former MEW facilities.

Since 1982, Intel has been pumping and treating groundwater by carbon adsorption. By 1986, Intel had removed 4,600 cubic yards of contaminated soil. Other immediate actions by the company included removing tanks and sealing contaminated wells to prevent contaminant migration.

Groundwater cleanup will continue to operate for many decades in order to meet the trichloroethene (TCE) groundwater cleanup standard of 5 parts per billion. The groundwater remedy has reduced contaminant concentrations throughout the multiple aquifer zones. The groundwater is not being used as a potable water supply, and there are no direct exposure pathways to the contaminated groundwater while groundwater cleanup continues.

The existing soil and groundwater remedy at the site does not address risks from long-term exposure through the vapor intrusion pathway. In 2010, EPA selected a remedy that addressed potential long-term exposure of TCE, and other VOCs at unacceptable levels, through the vapor intrusion pathway.